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I'm still trying to catch up after my latest Vegas trip, so I'm going to have to go about this report slowly. I'll be posting as I can get around to it. I've gone through 60+ personal emails, 200+ work emails, and 1000+ spam emails (OK, I didn't really read them). Now it's time to start thinking about Vegas again. Here's a brief summary of my trip, with detail to follow:

I started out the trip leaving Hartford at 5:50 PM on Continental Airlines. Getting out of Hartford was pretty uneventful, and I was lucky enough to have an empty seat next to me. All my flights were on 737s, which donâ€™t give you a whole lot of room, and the empty seat was appreciated. I got to Cleveland, and had about an hour layover â€“ long enough for a quick sandwich at American Bagel.

My 8:55 flight was delayed a few minutes, and then when we got to the top of the runway, the pilot came on the speaker. He started by saying the dreaded words â€œLadies and gentlemen, we have to return to the gateâ€¦.â€ My mind quickly starts thinking about mechanical problems and how long itâ€™s going to take to get me to Vegas, but the pilot finished with â€œâ€¦because we have a passenger that needs to get off the plane. It will take us about 10 minutes, and weâ€™ll be on our way.â€ Of course, â€œ10 minutesâ€ turns into 20+ minutes, but still, weâ€™re out of there with minimal impact. The in-flight movie was some Hillary Swank film about a teacher going into some city school and making a big impact. How many of these films do we need?!?!? I think it started way back with The White Shadow on TV, and since then, everyone needs to do one. I chose to read instead.

The plan landed in Vegas at 10:20, pretty close to on time, and I was lucky to get out of baggage claim quickly. Then it was time to experience the new rental car center. I found the common shuttles where all the company-specific shuttles used to be. Theyâ€™re the large bus size, and there were plenty of them. It only took about 5 minutes to get to the new facility. Once there, I was looking for Budget, which was easy to find. Budget had a big sign up saying that Fastbreak (their version of frequent flyers) customers should go right to the garage. At the Fastbreak counter, I just gave my name, and they gave me a parking space number. The keys and rental contract were waiting in the car. Nice! I was out of there in a few minutes.

I headed out and up to The Mirage, where I was staying for a $69 a night deal. I checked in without trying the $20 trick, and when I got to the room, thought better of it. I was in room 6068 (6th floor). I had a view of the roof and the dome over the atrium. But I got over it quickly. Donâ€™t spend much time in the room anyway. I did my usual 3 minute tour of the room, dumped the bags, and headed downstairs.

I was still on Eastern time, so after about 5 hours of sleep, I woke up at 6:15, ungodly for Vegas, but who wants to waste time sleeping anyway. First thing to do was to walk over to Wynn for breakfast. On the way, I got a look at the Palazzo entrance and hotel, and it seems to be shaping up nicely. Encore growing quickly too. I had heard a lot about the breakfast at Tableau, so I headed there just after 8:00 when they opened for breakfast. A full review can be found here.

After dropping $60-80 in VP at Wynn, I walked back over to the Mirage to play the ponies. Philadelphia was running that day, so I went through the racing form and picked out some horses for the day. When I returned later in the day, I found that I managed to turn $42 into about $30. Not my best day of horse racing for this trip. Not my worst either. But after putting down my racing bets, I headed to the Let It Ride (LIR) tables, and turned a $170 profit. Iâ€™ve never had much luck with LIR before, but had my best luck there this trip. Maybe it was putting down numerous $1 bets for the dealers. Maybe it was just luck. But it treated me well.

I had some family coming into town today, so I headed to the airport to pick them up. After dropping them off at their hotel, I headed to the south Strip to wander and play a bit. I went to NYNY first, and then made a trip over to Hooters to check the place out. I had never been there before, and donâ€™t know if Iâ€™ll make it back. Sure itâ€™s a Hooters, but you can see similar outfits anywhere along The Strip. Itâ€™s the main attraction for the hotel, and I donâ€™t know if it will be enough to keep people going there. Itâ€™s not the first casino to occupy that property, and Iâ€™m guessing it wonâ€™t be the last.

Dinner tonight was at Cravings, the buffet at The Mirage. I wonâ€™t go into a lot of detail. I posted a review about a year ago, and it hasnâ€™t changed much. We were surprised to find that there was no line to get in at 6:00. Sure, it was Monday night, but still. Overall, I thought the food was still very good. It seems to be a smaller selection than when they first opened a couple years back, but there was still plenty to choose from, and the quality was good. The cost of dinner is about $24 a person.

At that point, I should have gone to bed. Instead, I took the tram over to TI and took a beating playing VP. Then took the tram back and got another beating at The Mirage. I watched the â€œnew and improvedâ€ volcano at The Mirage, and didnâ€™t notice too much of a difference, other than the flames shooting a little higher in the air. Donâ€™t make a special trip unless youâ€™ve never seen it before.

I had been planning a trip to Downtown, since I hadnâ€™t been there in a long time, but never made it. I was too lazy, and crashed before midnight.

I got up at 5:45 this morning, way too early once again. Not being a coffee drinking, I did my usual routine - getting an iced tea at Carnegie Deli to get me going, still the best iced tea around. Then I headed to the sports book to place some bets on the horses at Philadelphia again. Then it was breakfast time.

We headed down to the Peppermill for breakfast. Most of the experience was the same as last year â€“ same food, same atmosphere, same service. Biggest change was in one dish a couple of had gotten last year â€“ the seafood omelet. Last year, it was made with real crab and shrimp. Now theyâ€™re using imitation crab instead of the real in omelets. At least we asked up front, and avoided these. We got out of there for $44 + tip for the three of us.

From there, we headed to the Bellagio. Instead of heading right to the machines or tables, I went to the Gallery of Fine Art. They were running an exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs and memorabilia. The exhibit consisted of about 30 photos, maybe a few more, and a number of letters, articles, and pieces of camera equipment related to Adams. There were 40+ audio stations on the self-guided tour, each running between 1 and 2 minutes. I couldnâ€™t do it all â€“ too much chatting about pictures for me. If I was a fan of Ansel Adams instead of a casual observer, it would have been different. Heck, I didnâ€™t even bring a camera on this trip. I was in there about 45 minutes, checking out the interesting stuff. The cost to get in was $15. Not a bad distraction.

Mid-afternoon, I was starting to get a bit hungry, so I decided to try New York Pizza & Pasta, a place off strip. You can see a short review here.

When I got back to The Strip, I did a little gaming at the Venetian and Mirage. That night, I was back at the Venetian for the 7:00 Phantom of the Opera. And a not so short review here.

After Phantom, I hopped in my car and headed to Casa de Mikey. Mikey and I had planned to get together while I was in Vegas, and he was gracious enough to invite me out to his place for the weekly night around the grill. I got to his place around 9:00 PM, and he already had most of the prep work done. The brats were simmering in the beer and onions on the stove. The chips and salsa were out and ready to be eaten, and the beans were all set for a little reheating. Mikey even had the fire pit and the grill going strong. We sat around the fire having a beer and BS-ing, while we waited for Rob (Falcon Rob) to show up, which was shortly after.

When Rob showed up, he went right to work like a regular. Between him and Mikey, I barely had to do a thing. They did the rest. By now, I was pretty hungry, and the guys got the brats on and off the grill, and we went to work. The brats were excellent, having the flavor of the beer & onions, and a good old-fashioned charcoal grill. Along with some beans, chips, and salsa, all washed down with beer and IBC root beer, we had a great meal, just as Mikey has described on his site.

After we ate, we sat around the fire, talking and waiting for the logs to burn down to coals so we could begin making some sâ€™mores. It was a great evening â€“ clear with temps in the low 80â€™s. Watching the fire, I swear I could fall asleep out there just staring at the flames. Very peaceful. When the coals were ready, Mikey and Rob went to work again gathering supplies for the sâ€™mores. Mikey, the recent convert to dark chocolate, broke out the Hersheyâ€™s Special Dark, along with graham crackers and marshmallows. Nicely toasted over the coals, the marshmallows and dark chocolate made excellent sâ€™mores. And Iâ€™m proud to say, I didnâ€™t lose one marshmallow in the fire.

After the food was gone, and we were all sugared up from the sâ€™mores and root beer, we sat around talking. Staring at the fire, which got restarted, and still being somewhat on Eastern time, I started fading around midnight. I headed back to the hotel to crash around that time. It was great seeing Mikey again and experiencing the Casa, and getting to meet Rob. Sitting around a fire in Vegas is certainly a different experience than Iâ€™m used to, and a great way to spend a night. Thanks guys!

Of course, I couldnâ€™t resist and a little gambling as I walked from the parking garage toward the hotel elevators, and I finally crashed around 1:30 â€“ respectable for Vegas.

"Watching the fire, I swear I could fall asleep out there just staring at the flames."

For the record, I did just that about 2 or 3 hours after you left Dave, before heading to work. I've mentioned to Mikey many times how it's amazing how quiet and peaceful it can get in that particular neighborhood.

I got up at 7:00 this morning â€“ still not used to this West Coast time thing. The nice thing about being on the West Coast is that you can find a horse track that starts at 10:00 in the morning and no baseball game is too late to watch. So I was up for the day and heading to the sports book to place some bets on Belmont. I gave up on looking through the racing form and trying to handicap, went with my 4-year oldâ€™s strategy instead â€“ bet on the green horse (#5). Which worked for about a $25 dollar profit on the day.

Then it was time for breakfast. We headed out to Jammâ€™s today, which you can find off The Strip on S. Rainbow, off of W. Charleston. Iâ€™ve got a full review here.

After breakfast, it was off to NYNY, and then a walk over to Luxor through Excalibur to pick up some show tickets. Today, you could have called me Daveluxor. Three shows at the Luxor in one day. I picked up my Carrot Top ticket which I had already bought, and then I bought tickets for Fantasy, and one of their IMAX shows. I played a little VP while waiting for the IMAX show, then I headed up to the Atrium level for the show. I posted a full review here.

After IMAX, it was back to The Mirage and then TI where I played some VP before going to their daily 2:00 PM Hold â€˜em tournament. It was a $60 buy in, and they got about 20 people to play. There was one annoying guy at our table, who couldnâ€™t stop talking, and liked to lean way over on the table like he was reclining. Happily, he busted out twice, but got back in on the â€œwaiting listâ€ policy, by buying in again for another $60 each time. After the third time in, he quieted down. I made it almost to the 1-hour mark, and was the first from our table to bust out and not buy back in. No exciting hands, and I was just beaten by my own crappy cards.

After the tournament, I hopped in the car and headed down to the Gamblerâ€™s General Store (http://www.gamblersgeneralstore.com/) on Main St (800 S. Main), close to Downtown. Got to see some of the nicer parts of town, with all the buildings that have bars on the windows. The store is great, lots of cool stuff to check out. And if youâ€™re looking for any supplies, this is the place to go. Tons of chips â€“ both sets and individual. You can get felts for tables, or buy the whole tables there, along with slot machines and other casino necessities. There are also lots of books, post cards, signs, pictures, and other assorted souvenir type stuff. While there was lots of stuff I would have like to get, I got out of there with only some post cards, a deck of cards, and a hand-held Hold â€˜em machine.

On the way back, I was getting a little hungry, so I stopped at Tacos Mexico, a little place I had seen on the way to the store, and a restaurant I had heard of in reviews. If youâ€™re heading out north on The Strip, this place is right near the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Main, where they split just after the Sahara and the Stratosphere . Itâ€™s a small place, kind of a low-budget fast food Mexican place. I went to the drive-thru. The speaker wasnâ€™t working, and I just had to drive right to the window. Thereâ€™s a decent size menu, and it appears to be more authentic than your average Taco Bell/Del Taco type of place. I ordered a beef taco and a chorizo taco. Some other options were beef brains, beef tongue, beef head, fried pork, and pork belly. Maybe on my next trip. There are burritos too, and I donâ€™t remember what else. The tacos were $.99 each, and came with the meat, onions, and cilantro â€“ none of the lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese you see at the other places. And the tacos came with two soft tortillas, about 4â€ across. Iâ€™ve seen the double-tortilla thing before, but donâ€™t know the reason. These also came with two sauces, a red which was spicy, and a green, not so much. Everything was tasty. If it wasnâ€™t getting close to dinner time, I would have tried a lot more stuff.

After the tacos, I made a quick stop at the â€œWorldâ€™s Largest Gift Shopâ€, right on the corner of Sahara and The Strip. Same old crap you find anywhere else. Just more of it. Donâ€™t know if itâ€™s the Largest, but Iâ€™m not going to argue. Then it was almost dinner time. We headed over to the Planet Hollywood garage, and walked through the Miracle Mile shops to Pampas Brazilian Grille and had dinner there. I posted my full review here.

After dinner, it was time to head to the Luxor for a few more shows. First up was the Carrot Top show â€“ excellent entertainment and a good value. Full review here.

After the Carrot Top show, I took a little break to play some VP, and then went back to the showroom for my third Luxor show of the day â€“ Fantasy, in the same showroom as Carrot Top. Full review here.

After Fantasy, I had to navigate the parking garage at Luxor to find my way out. There are no signs going in, none going out. Itâ€™s hard to even find the garage from the casino. I was beginning to wonder if the bomber who struck in the garage earlier in the week was just frustrated from driving around the place. When I made my way out of there, I headed back to the Mirage. Having passed up on dessert at dinner time, I thought I was due, so I stopped for a piece of cheesecake at Carnegie Deli - my favorite place for cheesecake - then crashed after 2:00 AM.

Dave,
Glad to hear a review of Ansel Adams' exhibit. Being a afficiando of the southwest backcountry, I wanted to see his photos. I was going to do it during the Sunday of MM4, but the weather was so nice that day, I couldn't bring myself to stay indoors for a couple hours.
Unfortunately, the display ends this month.
I'll tell you what - when you take a trip, you get things done.

You're like the energizer bunny. You did more in your few days in Vegas than I've done in 6 trips.

Click to expand...

I think part of that is because, when booking my trip, I realized that MGM/Mirage was getting a little cheaper with the comps. (More on that in the next/last installment) Why not get away from the tables then, and spend a little time on other activities.

I was up at 7:00 again this morning, this time with the alarm â€“ Iâ€™m starting to get used to the West Coast time. Just about when itâ€™s time to go home. I went to the business center to spend another $10 for 15 minutes of internet access, wanting to find a show for tonight. I checked Goldstar, but they donâ€™t appear to have same-day events. Everything on their site was a couple days out. Instead, I ended up with a Mamma Mia ticket direct from the Mandalay Bay site for $110. When I was finished, I didnâ€™t get a confirmation, and didnâ€™t see one come back in my email either, but I wasnâ€™t going to wait around and get charged another $10 for internet access. Figured I just check with the showroom.

Before heading to breakfast, I hit the sports book, and put down a few more bets on Belmont, hoping to duplicate yesterdayâ€™s luck. Not today. The only money I got back from 6 tickets was because of a late scratch.

For breakfast, I headed over for The Buffet at TI, formerly called Dishes. I donâ€™t know when the name changed or why. Sometime in the last year. The breakfast buffet was about $11 a person. Itâ€™s youâ€™re basic breakfast buffet, similar to when I was there about a year ago â€“ eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit (limited), cereal, single-item carving station, biscuits & gravy, cheese blintzes, made-to-order omelets. Nothing exceptional or unusual for main dishes. Whatâ€™s best about this place is the selection of desserts, even at breakfast time. Theyâ€™ve got a variety of freshly made mini donuts, muffins, cinnamon buns (frosted and not), apple strudel, and lots of other stuff. If you donâ€™t mind early morning sugar shock, go for it. I did a full review of breakfast and dinner a while back, and not much had changed. But it looks like they did address my main complaint from last time. When I was there for dinner, the buffet seemed over crowded, with one huge line winding through all the food stations. If you wanted to jump in to one particular station, you got lots of nasty looks and comments, and I canâ€™t blame the people if they had been waiting in the long line themselves. Now, the buffet has individual lines set up for each station, with those post and rope things set up to direct the traffic. They werenâ€™t necessary at breakfast time, but sure would help at dinner.

After breakfast, it was time to head down to Mandalay Bay. I went to the showroom to pick up my ticket for tonight, and it appears that the transaction went through. I got a front row seat for Mamma Mia. While there, I played some more Let It Ride with some good luck, being up about $150 before giving some back.

That afternoon, I did some wandering. First it was off to Caesars, to get a players club card from the Evil Empire, and to play a bit of VP just to get on their mailing list. Turns out OK, because I made some money there. While wandering through the Forum Shops, I saw that Pete Rose was signing autographs in one of the sporting good stores. Now thereâ€™s a surprise. I saw Pete, but didnâ€™t bother going in for an autograph. I walked from TI to the Fashion Show Mall to do some souvenir shopping. While walking through the mall, I got assaulted by a young woman working at one of the kiosks in the middle of the mall:

Her: Can I see your hands
Me: Sure (holding up my hands, palm side up)
Her: No, the other side [you idiot]
Me: Sorry (I flip them over)

Then she grabs my middle finger and starts buffing the nail with some kind of thingy while asking me if I ever get manicures. When sheâ€™s done, my one fingernail is shining brighter than the beam shooting out of the Luxor. Then the conversation goes like this.

Her: That will last you over a week
Me: Really (thinking â€œis that really a good thing?â€)
Her: Do you ever use hand care products?
Me: No
Her: Lotion?
Me: No
Her: Why not?
Me: Iâ€™m too lazy (while thinking â€œBecause Iâ€™m a frickin guyâ€)
Her: Thanks. Have a nice day.

Guess I didnâ€™t seem like the ideal repeat customer after that. While walking away, Iâ€™m thinking I donâ€™t want a beacon shining from my left hand, so I take out my car keys and start scratching that baby up again. Lasts over a week? Yeah sure. By the time Iâ€™m done in the mall, my nail is back to normal. While there, I did notice a sign for Stripburger, â€œcoming in June 2007â€, but I couldnâ€™t tell where itâ€™s going to be.

After shopping and getting buffed, I headed over to Wynn to make another down payment on Encore, and then back to Mirage to help pay for their Beatles licensing. Dinner tonight was at the Grand Lux. I put a quick review here.

After dinner, I drove back down to Mandalay Bay for the Mamma Mia show at 7:30. After playing a little VP, I headed into the showroom, and found my seat down front â€“ I was in the middle section, BB, a few seats in on the right aisle. From there, I had an excellent view of the stage and into the orchestra pit as well. Before the show, I got to hear some banter going on between the ushers and musicians, and got to see how the musicians prepare. From there, when sitting, the performerâ€™s feet (the ones on the stage) are just about at eye level. I thought this might be a problem, but it was fine. I didnâ€™t feel like I was looking up.

Iâ€™m not going into a full review â€“ I posted one last year, and the show hasnâ€™t really changed. Some of the cast was the same â€“ the mother, one of her friends, two of the fathers. Some of the cast was different â€“ one of the motherâ€™s friends, one of the fathers, the daughter. The daughter was adorable â€“ the kind of person you just want to smush. And she had a great voice, as did most of the cast. Itâ€™s an excellent show, full of energy. If you like ABBA music, even better. Go see it. I may have mentioned somewhere, but just in case I didnâ€™tâ€¦ While at the Fashion Show Mall earlier in the day, I saw Mamma Mia tickets at 1/2 price, at $55. But Iâ€™m happy with my front row seats, even if I paid $110.

After the show, I was beat, and Vegas was finally catching up to me. I drove back to Mirage, ready to cash out my points, get to the room and pack, and then crash. My first surprise was that MGM/Mirage had changed how they handle points on the Playerâ€™s Club card. In the past, they would give you $1 back in cash for every 100 points you accumulated. I had about 10,000 points, so I was expecting $100 cash back. Well, now they donâ€™t give cash, they give you free play. That means you get $100 in credit that you can play in any machine, but you have to play it, you canâ€™t just cash it out. They know the odds of winning, and figure theyâ€™ll benefit in the long run. I played my $100 on a video poker machine, and managed to cash out with just over $50 in cash after using the $100 in free play.

By then, I was completely exhausted. It was time to pack and get to bed. Another trip almost over.

May 11, 2007

I was up at 4:30 this morning â€“ always awful a the tail end of a trip - to get ready, check out, and get to the airport. I managed to get on the road after 5:00, and headed back to the new car rental facility. I got a little lost along the way. I headed down The Strip, and turned on Russell Rd., when I should have gone a little further down to Warm Springs. Not a problem. Only took me about 5 extra minutes. I returned the car in about 5 minutes, and was on a shuttle to the airport, arriving there by 5:45. Things were pretty uneventful after that. Used automated check in and was through security by 6:15, plenty of time for my 7:05 flight.

Time to get home.

Some random thought:
Best Breakfast: Jamm's
Best Lunch: Didn't really have any
Best Dinner (at at restaurant): Grand Lux
Best New Activity: Dinner at Casa de Mikey
Best Show: Carrot Top (Mamma Mia is close, but it was a repeat)
Best Dessert: Cheesecake at Carnegie Deli
Best Snack: Tacos at Tacos Mexico
Best Game (most luck gambling): Let It Ride
Worst Luck Gambling: Texas Hold 'em
Celebrity Sightings: Pete Rose, Hawaiian Tropic Girls (sure, they count)
Least favorite part of the trip: Getting up at 4:30 AM when it's time to leave.
Regret: Not drinking enough
Items left on the "to do" list: Way too many. I need to get to work on them next.